How do I figure out how many calories a day to lose weight?

I am a 50 yo woman who currently weighs 244 lbs and would like to lose 90 lbs over the next year. I am moderately(?) active by training to do a 5K (Couch-to-5K program) in January 2013 and swimming a mile 2X a week. I signed up for FS last week and have been trying to follow a 1200 calorie a day diet, but to be honest I am so hungry all day that all I can think about is what I can eat next. I think I am including a good number of low fat, low calorie proteins (boiled egg, deli turkey or chicken, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc...) and my carbs are about 50% of my daily intake, I am assuming from fruits and veggies as I have severely limited breads, rice, pasta and potatoes.I would love some guidance as I am really motivated to make this successful.Thanks

Hello! I am the same, diets are impossible especially if they are labelled as diets your brain wants you to eat it out and pretend it didn't happen haha. It is entirely possible to lose the weight in the time you have given yourself. For myself I feel as though the more exercise you do and the more you push yourself it is hard to want to eat after because you don't want to undo the exerise. I won't strongly recommend the Candida diet http://www.thecandidadiet.com/ <link. It is aimed at stopping cravings. Really good!

I’m glad to hear you are motivated and it is an encouragement to me as well as I try to make a success of my diet. My goal is to lose 50 lbs in 6 months. I’m on a low carb diet plan and counting calories, too! But I think cutting calories by 50 percent is drastic! Your body is addicted to the amount of calories you normally eat and will REACT to drastic cuts! I have an online weight loss coach who gives me a daily diet to follow. It’s a gradual shift to a healthy diet. It includes some interesting recipes and I’m really enjoy it and moreover, shedding about 2 lbs a week!

I know I get crazy hungry if my fat intake is too low. You don't have to limit yourself to eating a low fat diet. Despite all the media hype to the contrary, there is no evidence that low fat diets are more effective for weight loss than diets that are more moderate in fat intake. Fat is energy, too.

totally agree with eKatherine if you don't have enough fat you will feel hungry & cold & then you will be miserable. Try upping your protein a bit & try making some home made soup, in a test done with volunteers working on a nature reserve they had their watches taken away & half the group had a meal of raw veg & water the other half had soup made from the same quantity of veg & water, they were sent off to work & told to return when they were hungry. All the soup eaters returned over an hour after the veg eaters! So give some home made soup a go & see if that helps

Sometimes the only thing in life that you can control is what you put in your mouth!

90 pounds is quite a steep target with an average loss of almost 2 lbs per week that implies a weekly calorie deficit of 6-7000 which is not impossible but quite difficult especially for women that have a lower resting metabolism to begin with. I would suggest to aim for 1 lbs per week and 3500 cal weekly deficit which should be more attainable long term

Diets that are hard to follow usually won't help you keep the weight off. Try eating healthy foods in smaller portions. Logging in what you eat is so helpful. I was not aware of how many calories I was eating before I started doing that. Even if you have a bad day you can always try again the next day. Good Luck!

go to My Fatsecret above, then in right hand column click on My Weight History, and in there on down right you should seeMy Diet with 6 options listed below that, there you can choose what you want to ...